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No. 519,299. Patented May 1, 1894.

NITED STATES SILAS W. BLANOl-IARD AND WILLIAM. A. LAMBIE, OF

PITTSBURG, ASSIGN- PENNSYLVANIA.

ELEVATOR-HATCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent NO. 519,299, dated May 1, 1894. Application filed September 24, 1892. Serial No. 446,784. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Beitknown that we, SILAs WRIGHT BLANCH- ARD and WILLIAM ALLEN LAMBIE, of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Elevator-Hatches, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of our invention is to provide improved safety-hatch guards, which can be set in place at the levels of the floors in an elevator shaft. Such hatchguards are es pecially desirable as means for protection against fire, since the open-elevator-shaft con- I 5 stitutes a draft-flue, creating in the building an up-draft, which augments greatly the danger of fire. Devices have been suggested heretofore in which hatchguards are provided for each floor, and are adapted to be carried up and down with the elevator in its every trip, but the weight of the hatchguards and other causes have rendered such appliances too clumsy and objectionable for general adoption.

Our improved apparatus is so constructed that normally the hatchguards are upheld at the top of the elevator-shaft, and it is onlyin times of danger, or when the elevator is not in use that they need be lowered into position at the various floors.

Our improved apparatus is simple in construction, reliable in action, not apt to get out of order, and does not impede the ordinaryoperation of the elevator. The devices for locking the hatch guards to the several floors when the hatches are closed, although described in the present application, are claimed in a companion application filed October 30, 1893, and given Serial No. 489,447.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows in side elevation an elevator provided with my improved safety-hatch guards, the elevator-shaft being shown in vertical section through the floor of the building. Fig. 2 is a similar view of another side of the elevator, viewed in the direction of the arrowB in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section through the elevator-shaft, showing one of the safetydoors or hatch guards in position at the floor. Fig. 4 is a vertical section on the line IVIV of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a bottom plan View of the holding-bolt of oneof the doors.

In the drawings, 2 represents the upright guide-pieces of an elevator-shaft, and 3 is a lift or elevator set therein and adapted to be moved vertically from one floor of the building to another. In the case illustrated by the drawings, the building has four floors above the first, at each of which the elevator-' shaft is to be closed by means of a hatch guard or door. In Figs. 1 and 2, we show the four hatch guards b c d e resting one'on top of the other at the top of the elevatorshat't, upheld by means of pivoted yokes 4 fitting under the lowest one of the hatch guards, the rope of the elevator passing through a central holein each hatch guard. When in this position, the elevator may be moved up and down in the usual manner without in any way affecting the hatch guards, but the elevator isprovided with means by which, when the hatch guards are released from their supporting-yokes, they may he supported by the elevator and lowered with it. At each floor there is a device adapted to engage and hold the then uppermost one of the hatchguards and to permit the others to pass on, so that when the elevator reaches the bottom of the shaft, it will have left one of the hatch guards at each floor. For the purpose of thus upholding the hatchguards at the several floors, we provide the elevator-shaft with projections 5, adapted to engage the margins of the proper one of the hatch guards, the

other hatch guards being recessed as indicated in Fig. 2, so as to permit each hatch guard to pass until it reaches the proper proj ection adapted to uphold it. It is desirable also, in addition to supporting the hatch guards at the several floors, to hold them there in position by positively acting means, so that they may not be displaced by upward drafts through the elevator-shaft occasioned by the occurrence of fire in the building. To this end we provide each hatch guard on its under side with spring-backed bolts 6, having headportions 7, adapted to be engaged by a camprojection and to'be retracted thereby. Each of the three lower hatch guards has on its upper side such cam-projection 8, which normally engages the head 7 of the bolt above it and holds it in retracted position, as indicated in Fig. 1. The bolts of thelowest hatch guard are adapted to be retracted by cam-projections 6' on the ends of lever-arms or frames 7 which may be operated by a hand-lever 8, so as to bring them into vertical position, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1. When in this position, if the elevator be raised to its highest point, the cam-projections will engage the heads 7, and will automatically retract the bolts of the lowest hatch guard, holding them retracted so long as the projections remain in contact with the bolt-heads. The yokes 4 are provided with lever-mechanism 9,by which they may be swung from the position shown by full lines in Fig. 2, in which they uphold the hatch guards, to the position shown by dotted linesin that figure, in which they will release the hatches.

The operation of the device is as follows: Suppose that all of the hatch guards are upheld by the yokes 4 at the top of the elevator-shaft, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and that it be desired to lower the several hatch guards to their positions at the floors, either because a fire has occurred, or because at the end of the days work the operator wishes to insure safety of the building by shutting the elevator-shaft. For this purpose, he raises the leverarm 7 to the upright position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1, and causes the elevator to ascend to the top of the shaft. When the elevator reaches this position, the upright-arms 7 engagethelowest hatch guard, and its projections 6 retract the bolts thereof; then a slight farther ascent of the elevator will lift the hatch guards from the supporting-yokes, whereupon a spring 10 attached to the lever 9, will swing said yokes back into the position shown by dotted lines, the y'okes being free to move by their release from frictional contact with the hatch guards. A weight may be substituted for the spring 10. Then the elevator may be caused to descend, and as it does so it will carry with it the hatch guards supported upon the ends of the upright-arms 7 When the top hatch guard comes to the position of the next fioor of the building, it is retained by the projections, as above described, and as the other lower hatch guards move down away from it, its bolts 6 being released from the retraction of the cam-projections of the hatch guard below, spring forward into suitable recesses or keepers in the elevator fioor and are held thereby. In like manner as the elevator continues its descent, each of the hatch guards is left at its proper floor in bolted position. To perform this operation, it will be noticed that it is not necessary that the operator of the elevator should ride with it to the top, since he may stand at the bottom of the shaft and from that point may govern the motion of the elevator. This is of importance in case of fire in the building. 'When itis desired to lift the hatch guards again and to suspend them at the top of the elevator-shaft, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the operator raises the arms 7 to upright position, and then causes the elevator to ascend. As it reaches the first floor of the building, the projections 6' on the lever-arms engage the heads of the bolts, retract and disengage them from their keepers or recesses, thus freeing the hatch guard and lifting it on the arms in the farther ascent of the elevator. When the elevator reaches the floor next above, the camprojections on the first hatch guard retract and free the bolts of the next hatch guard, and then the latter is lifted, and. so on until all the hatch guards are raised to the top of the elevator-shaft, superposed one upon the other. The lever 9 is then moved by hand so as to bring the yokes linto supporting positions under the hatch guards, and then the elevator may be caused to descend, leaving the hatch guards suspended by the yokes in the manner first above explained. Until it is desired again to lower the hatch guards to the various floors, the lever-arms 7' are moved into their lower positions, as shown in Fig. 1, so that in the ordinary use of the elevator they shall not come in contact with the hatch guards.

Modifications in construction and general arrangement of the parts of the apparatus may be made by those skilled in the art without variance from our invention as stated in the following claims, since we believe that we are the first broadly to devise the combinations of means therein set forth, irrespective of the precise mechanical construction.

lVe therefore claim- 1. The combination of an elevator car, aseries of hatch-guards above the same and adapted to be carried thereby, means for upholding the hatch-guards respectively at the several floors, a hatch-guard-upholder at the top of the elevator-shaft, and automatic means for retracting the hatch-guard-upholder when the hatch-guards are lifted therefrom; substantially as described.

2. The combination of an elevator car, a se ries of hatch-guards above the same and adapted to be carried thereby, means for upholding the hatch-guards respectively at the several floors, and swinging yokes at the top of the elevatorrshaft adapted to fit under and uphold the hatclrguards and means for retracting the yokes automatically; substantially as described.

3. The combination of an elevator car, a series of hatch guards above the same and adapted to be carried thereby, means for upholding the hatch-guards respectively at the our hands this 22d day of September, A. D. several floors, yokes for upholding the hatch- 1892. guardsat the top of the elevator-shaft, and SILAS W. BLANCHARD. automatic means for retracting the yokes WILLIAM A. LAMBIE. 5 when the hatch-guards are lifted therefrom Witnesses:

by the elevator; substantially as described. JOHN S. KENNEDY,

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set CLARENCE BYRNES. 

